Man Eats Nothing But Potatoes For a Year, Feels Awesome

Back in January, Australian man Andrew Taylor vowed that he would eat nothing but potatoes for an entire year. Turns out, it may have been the best decision he ever made.

Taylor recently told the Australian that since going on his all-potato diet, he’s lost 11 pounds, slept better, and felt better than he has in years. An admitted food addict, Taylor’s diet was a steady stream of ice cream, cake, pizza, and other junk food, and he wasn’t sure how to stop.

“If you’re an alcoholic you quit alcohol, or [if you’re] a drug addict you quit drugs,” he said. “You can’t quit food, but I wanted to get as close as possible and wondered if there was one particular food I could eat and potatoes came up best….everybody knows they’ve got lots of carbs but they have enough protein and fat; and potatoes are really good for fiber, vitamin C, and iron.”

For his diet, Taylor ate almost nine pounds of potatoes a day, in every possible format: baked, mashed, boiled, and pancaked. If he got invited out to friends’ houses or restaurants, he either brought his own potatoes or called ahead and had them specially prepared. Weird diet or not, you have to applaud him for being considerate.

Responses to this diet from doctors and other medical professionals were mixed, but Taylor has no regrets. “If you want extreme results, you have to do extreme things,” he said, noting that he was overweight and depressed when his diet began. “Yes it’s extreme, but what’s wrong with that?”

Taylor will officially celebrate his successful (if bizarre) potato diet by hosting a catered party where he will, for the first time in a year, eat other food.